Microsoft Pulls Bitcoin Support From Windows Store

Microsoft no longer accepts payments in Bitcoins on the Microsoft Store, a limitation that stretches to the Windows Store. The company updated its support page to note that it has dropped support for the aforementioned virtual currency from its app store on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile platforms.

The company’s decision to pull support for payments via Bitcoin currency comes over a year after the company first implemented it for apps and other content on the Windows Store and Xbox stores in partnership with BitPay for US users.

It’s not clear if Microsoft has also pulled the Bitcoin payment support from devices running versions below Windows 10, and if it has pulled support from the Xbox Store. One can still find several support documents on the company’s official website that are aimed at assisting users in adding Bitcoins to their wallet. We’ve reached out to Microsoft for more details on this front.

Sadly, Microsoft hasn’t offered an explanation as to why it has pulled the support. Perhaps the adoption and traction of the cryptocurrency with users wasn’t enough to invest the amount of effort the company was putting in its implementation and maintenance.

The move comes amid a growing tension among developers for making a major change in the infrastructure of Bitcoin. Many demand the data capacity of transaction blocks on the blockchain to be increased.

Microsoft in a post on the store said users can still exhaust their existing Bitcoin balance to buy things from its store, though a refund won’t be issued.

Windows 10, which was released last year, is quickly gaining traction. As of January 2016, there were more than 200 million active Windows 10 installs worldwide. With the platform’s store dropping support for Bitcoin payments, it could be considered a blow to the community, which has been facing enough challenges as it is.